


June 2017

by Zilleniose



Series: Broken Gods [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe, Drabble, Original Character(s), it's not really about the OC though don't worry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-04
Updated: 2012-10-04
Packaged: 2017-11-15 14:56:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/528506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zilleniose/pseuds/Zilleniose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Skaians are a group of kids and trolls that possess unimaginable power that even rival gods. For years, they were forced to become weapons of war, and now, they're on the run. No one really knows where they are, and that's what's really frightening.</p>
            </blockquote>





	June 2017

**Author's Note:**

> For the AU series Broken Gods.
> 
> A detailed summary of the plot can be found here: http://zilleniose.tumblr.com/post/32622962716/brokengods

I jump at the sudden sound, the same way I’ve been jumping for the past year or so. It starts out quiet and low, but quickly climbs in decibels with a deep, reverberating bellow.

“Man, I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to these.” I laugh and set my chicken wrap down on my paper plate, sort of halfway off of the paper it came wrapped in.

“What, the sirens?” My friend looked up at me, his mouth half-full with a bite of greasy pizza. I think he got something weird this time – pineapple and sausage? Fruit has no place on pizza, but he’s got some pretty weird tastes; though I suppose most college kids do.

“Yeah.” I nod and grab my fountain soda, resisting the urge to stick a finger in my right ear to shield it from the onslaught of intrusive wailing. The pitch receded for a moment, before climbing again in a slowly repetitive, and ominous cry. It didn’t really sound like the tornado sirens I heard back home in Illinois, those were much higher pitched, and the pitch stayed even until they turned off. This sound however, sounded like something someone might have heard during bomb raids or something. I don’t really know though, history class was never my forte.

“I dunno why they go off so often.” My friend comments as he leans back in his chair, the old wood creaking a bit under his weight. Not that he was very heavy or anything, but this old camp furniture was probably five years past the point of being safe to use. “I mean, every first Friday of the month? We don’t get meteors that often.”

“Well, they have to make sure they work.” I shrug. “Like tornado sirens. We’d be in deep shit if a meteor was coming and the sirens here didn’t work.”

“Oh, that’s right. You came from tornado alley, didn’t you?” He grins at me, chuckling a bit before taking another bite of his weird pizza.

“Near it. I never really saw a tornado or anything, but I did get to hear the sirens a lot.” I sigh at the unpleasant memory, glad to be farther up north in Colorado. There really wasn’t anything pleasant in my hometown, which is why this is the second year I’ve decided to hike up to a summer camp between semesters instead of visiting my folks.

“Hehe, you’d be the first person I’d think would be used to these, then.” My friend muses.

I zip my hoodie up to my neck as a cool breeze strolls in – though it’s probably also in thanks to the ice box closeby. “How can anyone get used to the idea of meteors waltzing into our atmosphere every few months? There were like, two in one week last year, too. Doesn’t that freak you out?”

“Hmm, not really.” He shrugs and finishes off the last bite of his pizza. “Tornadoes don’t, either.”

I roll my eyes. “That’s right, you wanted to be a storm chaser.”

“Still do!” His expression brightens so much it nearly blinds me. This guy could be so animated sometimes, it makes me wonder if he’s really twenty-two and in the same year of college as me. “Don’t you think that’s awesome? I mean, _weather_ is awesome. One day I’m totally going to be driving one of those armored cars, chasing around clouds and stuff and studying weather patterns and helping people be warned before tornadoes form.”

“Well, I guess if that’s your idea of a good time, no wonder you aren’t freaked out by the meteors.” I laugh and recline in my chair. There wasn’t anything going on until four, so there wasn’t any rush to get back to the main house.

“It’s not like any of the meteors have hit, you know.” He makes a valid point, though it’s not entirely so comforting.

“That kind of worries me, too.” I sigh, looking up towards the treeline of evergreens. “It’s pretty unsettling that there are people out there able to stop them with their bare hands.”

“You mean the Skaians?”

“Yeah.” I reply a bit quieter than I intended. It didn’t really matter though, since I was talking to a close friend. We’ve been here for almost two months, and we’re already closer than some of the people I met back in high school; he was just so fun to be around and easy to talk to. “Can I tell you something _really_ embarrassing?”

“Oh man, always.” He leans into the table, staring straight at me with a shit-eating grin. “Spill it, I can always use more blackmail material.”

“Fuck you.” I punch him in the arm, not too hard though, because I know he was kidding. Mostly because it wasn’t like there was anyone else here at this camp he could tell and have it adversely affect me; we’ll be leaving next month anyway. “Come on, I’m tearing my heart out for you here and setting it on a plate in front of you. This is the kind of shit kids get stuffed in lockers for.”

“I wouldn’t know since I was pretty much home-schooled.” He rubs his arm.

“I, well…” The mood is kind of off now, but I was already sort of looking forward to finally admitting this to someone. It wasn’t like I could tell any of the guys back at the University, they’d never let me live it down. “I have nightmares sometimes.”

He stares at me like a kid who got promised ice cream, and was given pistachio flavor or something. “That’s it? Dude, everyone has those.”

“About the _meteors_.” I clarify with a bit of a groan, and I feel my cheeks heat up just a tiny bit. “…. And the Skaians.”

“… What do you mean?”

“I mean, it’s scary.” I don’t know when my gaze traveled to the concrete beneath the wooden table, but I fixate on a small pebble that sat just beside my right shoe. “They were kind of cool at first, you know? Especially when a few of them started helping out law enforcement. But it’s creepy that no one knows where they are now, after they were in the war. What if they got a kick out of hurting people?”

He’s giving me a troubled look, now. Like he’s not sure what to say. I expected it, sort of, since it was kind of silly that I’d have nightmares about this stuff. Most of my peers at school thought the Skaians were pretty cool.

“I wouldn’t think they’d have left if they enjoyed the war.” He comments in a softer voice. Is he trying to assure me or something? It’s sweet, but I’m a bit too embarrassed to thank him. “A few of them started going crazy, remember?”

“Like the Witch of Space? Yeah, I remember that. I dunno, I guess it’s kind of hard to explain.” My chest is tightening a bit, and it feels uncomfortable. “I just worry that one of them could be around, and no one would know. Do you think those rumors are true about the Seers’ spell?”

“Where people wouldn’t recognize them by face or name?” He asks, and I nod in response. He looks at his hands, which are now clasped at the top of the table, but it’s not his usual contemplative look. There’s something off, something I can’t really place. Perhaps the subject is a bit sore for him, too. It is for a lot of people, considering the Skaians aren’t exactly a happy subject; even their fans would probably never wish to meet them in person. “I don’t know, I think that’s kind of stretching it a bit. If you know what someone looks like, how can you just… not know them when you see them? Seems fishy to me.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” I laugh with a bit of a nervous undertone. I don’t know if I believe him, but I try to for the sake of my sanity.

“… What would you do if you ran into one of them?” He asks, and I bite my lip. It’s a common question, since no one really wants that to happen.

“I’d probably piss myself. I try not to think about it, really.” I rub the back of my neck and take a sip of my soda, which is mostly ice now. “But that’s the kind of thing I have nightmares about. They’re like those nightmares you’d have when you’re small, and you’re, like, running from a t-rex or something. In that situation you’re pretty much fucked no matter what you do, even if you have weapons.”

“You say that like you think they’d want to kill you.” He rests his head on his hand. “Don’t you think if they’re wanting to hide, they wouldn’t make a scene like that?”

“You’re being way too sensible here.” I chuckle. “These are just nightmares, of course they don’t make sense. Not entirely, anyway.”

“I just find it odd that people are so scared. They saved the planet, complied with the United States government to be assessed for over half a year, helped a lot of people, and even ran from the battlefield because they didn’t want to kill anymore.”

“Well, the Prince of-”

“The trolls don’t count. At least not ones like Eridan.” He cuts me off, and it’s sort of weird hearing someone say the name of one of the Skaians, rather than their title. I’m not sure just when people started doing that, but I guess it might be a way for people to distance themselves from beings who hardly looked or acted human in the first place.

“Of course they count.” I couldn’t really argue that they were all the same, because they weren’t. It was obvious just a few of the trolls were more enthusiastic about violence. “Anyway, it’s just…. they’re too different. Wouldn’t you be a little worried if you saw someone walking around with a machine gun?”

“Not all of them use guns.” He rolled his eyes.

“It’s a metaphor, jerk. They’ve got this incredible, unfathomable power – and they can’t even die! Don’t you find that disturbing that any one person could be so above the rest of us?”

“I worry more about other people. Turn on the news, and you hear more about bank robberies and murders from people who aren’t gods.” He picks a bit at a small splinter sticking up at the edge of the table. “The Skaians were forced into war, they never wanted to be in it. Other people on the other hand, go looking for new ways to hurt innocent bystanders.”

Well, this was unexpected. Maybe I was looking into it a bit too much, but he almost seems like he _likes_ the Skaians. It wasn’t unheard of, but you don’t generally hear people ready to defend them, with as many people they’ve killed. Maybe he was even one of those overenthusiastic groupies he saw around campus a few times.

“Whatever, it doesn’t really matter.” I shrug the topic off and get to my feet, grabbing my trash. “Wanna head over to the lake? We’ve got a few hours to kill.”

“Yeah.” He smiles, though it’s not as bright as it usually is. Maybe that pizza isn’t sitting well with him. “Sounds cool.”

  


* * *

  


The next day, I wake up to an empty room, the adjacent bed where my friend usually slept was neatly fixed, and his duffel bag was gone.

I ask around, but no one’s seen him. When I don’t see him at breakfast, I contact the staff, worried something bad might have happened, that he was sent to the hospital or had to leave for a family emergency. I almost felt sick thinking that somehow, such a close friend was gone now, without a goodbye or even an email address.

But no one named John Egbert was even in the camp roster.


End file.
